ACLU of MS's Statement on U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision to Vacate MS NAACP v. State Board of Elections 

Independently, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an extraordinary order today that may again dilute Black voting power in Mississippi.

This is wrong, this is heartbreaking, but it is not new. At its base, the Court’s order reasons that Black Mississippians may enjoy too much political power. Nothing could be more disconnected from reality.

The Court’s order vacates the decision in MS NAACP v. State Board of Elections, essentially voiding the previous 2024 three-judge panel’s decision that determined Mississippi’s legislative districts discriminated against Black voters.

Due to that 2024 decision, special elections were held in 2025 and Black voters, in three new opportunity districts, were finally given the chance to elect senate and house candidates of their choice. Those elections resulted in the swearing in of 3 new Black legislators in January 2026.

For over two years, the State of Mississippi did not appeal the merits of the panel’s decision and did not attempt to stop the special elections. In fact, Mississippi did not even ask the Supreme Court to consider the merits of the panel’s decision.

Yet, the majority of justices, unprompted, took it upon themselves to retroactively apply Callais to a two-year old unanimous court decision—another unprecedented attack on Black voters.

Black Mississippians have always had to fight for equal representation at all levels of government. That fight did not stop when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of opinions that helped end reconstruction and usher in Jim Crow.

That fight will not stop as we take on the current Court’s attacks on Black voting power.